Wrong Number
by TheresaJoliePitt
Summary: AU Castle. Based during the start of season 3. Kate is surprised that the man on the other line isn't her usual go to Chinese take out man.
1. Chapter 1

_Dedicated to my good friend JJ for his birthday. Here's to many more. This still doesn't mean we're friends though :p_

It had been a long day...long week she should say. She just finished closing a case that took almost two weeks to solve. It was a gruesome homicide. The victim's brother killed her and her son. He was living with them for a few months and his sister was about to kick him out of her apartment. He didn't take that well and killed them both in their sleep before removing their fingers, shaving their heads, and trying to remove any ounce of how they could identify them from their bodies. He then dumped them in a landfill. Kate didn't have any siblings, but she still had no idea how someone was capable of doing that to their sister and their nephew. The boy was only eight years old and had done nothing wrong. She didn't understand it.

However, she didn't understand most of the homicides that she investigated. She had been doing this for sometime now, but she still wasn't used to some of the things that she saw. There were some days where she came home, especially when she first started, where she just wanted to quit because she hated seeing this. Then she remembered though why she became a cop. It wasn't just to solve her mother's murder. It was to get justice for the other victims that were taken from this world too soon.

Kate locked the door to her apartment and took her boots off. She then hung up her jacket and took off her scarf as well. She hated that it was still cold out, even though it was "spring". She placed her keys on the table before she headed into her room. She placed her badge on the dresser, put her gun away, took off her mother's necklace and her dad's watch, and placed her phone on the dresser as well. She stripped from her clothes and put on her oversize NYPD t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants. She put her hair up in a ponytail before she grabbed her phone and headed out of her room and to her sofa.

She dialed the number, that she knew by heart, to order her dinner. She didn't need a menu, she knew what she wanted and as soon as Harry heard her voice, he would know too.

"Hello?"

She was confused. This wasn't Harry and she wasn't even sure if this was Szechuan Village, since he didn't say anything to tell her that it was.

"Is this Szechuan Village?"

She heard a chuckle. "I really need to change my number. Either that or I need to learn how to make some Chinese food and make a profit off of the multiple times people have called me to ask me that."

She looked at her phone and saw that she miss dialed. "Oh, I'm sorry..."

He cut her off. "What's so great about Szechuan Village? Shun Lee Palace has so much better food."

Kate laughed. "Have you ever had Szechaun's egg rolls and their shrimp fried rice?"

"I have not."

"Well, when you do, then you can tell me what is so great about it."

"Tell me something though, have you've ever had Shun Lee's dumplings?"

"I have not, but I have had their ribs."

"Oh, well see there's your problem. You don't get ribs at a restaurant like that."

"Are you a food critic where you know this?"

"No, I'm just a guy that knows not to order ribs at a Chinese restaurant."

"I didn't know that was a thing to know."

"It definitely is. If you want ribs, you need to go to a barbecue restaurant."

"Like Mighty Quinn's?"

"Exactly like Mighty Quinn's. I'm ashamed that a Mighty Quinn's lover ordered ribs elsewhere."

She smiled. "I was desperate."

"Apparently." He looked at the clock on his laptop screen and closed the blank word document, knowing he wasn't going to be writing anything anyways. He hadn't been able to write anything good in over two years. "Do you go to Mighty Quinn's often?"

She shook her head. "Not as much as I would like to. My job keeps me away. I usually just head to Remy's if I want to sit down for a meal and not order take out or catch the comfort food truck."

"Every time I get the comfort food truck, I end up asking the cook to marry me and he's not my type. Too much man, not enough woman."

She laughed. "I'm sure he feels the same way if he hasn't taken you up on your offer."

"That's what I tell my ego."

She twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "I'm Kate."

He smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Kate. I'm Rick. I have to say, Kate, you are by far the best wrong number I have ever had."

She bit her bottom lip. "Well as much as I was hoping to talk to Harry at Szechuan Village, you're not so bad yourself. If only you delivered Chinese food, you'd be perfect."

"I better taking a cooking class because I see you being my best tipper."

"I guess that really depends on how good your egg rolls are."

"Note to self, learn how to make egg rolls sooner rather than later."

She laughed. "So since you're obviously not a chef for a Chinese restaurant, what do you do Rick?"

"I'm a writer." He didn't want to tell her what he wrote about or who he was just yet. His last few books weren't good and he didn't want her to judge him if she had read them. Even though they had only been talking for a few minutes, he wanted to get to know this woman, wanted to meet her, wanted to see if she was as beautiful in person as her voice sounded. He didn't want her to hang up on him or treat him any differently.

"Isn't that what everyone in New York says that camp out at Starbucks with their laptops?"

He laughed. "Yea, well, if we say it enough maybe someday someone will believe us. What about you, Kate? What do you do?"

"I'm a homicide detective."

His interest in her just went from 100 to 1000. "Homicide? I was not expecting that."

"What were you expecting?"

He was silent for a second. "I...I don't really know, but not that."

She smirked, glad that she could surprise him. She reached for her laptop, that was sitting on the coffee table and opened it up. She could order her food online without having to hang up on Rick. "What do you write about?"

"I like to write mysteries."

She googled the restaurant, so that she would be brought to their website. "Oh?"

"I'm working on something now, but I'm not sure how to put my thoughts on paper."

She clicked on the shrimp fried rice and the egg roll before starting to type out her address. "What's the plot?"

He leaned back in his chair. "I want to develop a new character, move from the spy character I once used, and do something different. Have them be a strong lead character...but I don't know what they're up against or what their background would be."

She placed her order and closed her laptop, placing on the empty seat next to her. "I see, so basically you don't have much."

He sighed. "No. I seemed to have lost my inspiration for writing. I knew I wanted to be a writer after reading this James Bond novel, but I don't want to just write James Bond like characters."

"Understandable."

"How did you know you wanted to be a cop?"

She bit her bottom lip, not sure if she wanted to tell him this or not. She wasn't sure who this guy was. She just had a name and a phone number. "Someone close to me was murdered."

"I'm so sorry."

"Thank you. I always wanted to solve her case, so being a cop was what I thought was best in order to do that."

"How long has it been a cold case for?"

"Too long."

There was silence for a bit before he spoke again. "I'm sorry, Kate. I have a feeling that someday, you'll find out what happened."

She smiled softly. "I hope so too. In the meantime, I get justice for other victims." She was going to say more, but then she heard the doorbell ring. "Hang on a second, Rick." She got off of the sofa and got her money out of her coat pocket before checking the peep hole. She saw it was indeed her Chinese food. She opened the door and thanked the man for her food before closing and locking the door again. "You still there?"

"I'm here. Did you get shrimp fried rice and an egg roll?"

She smiled. "I did."

"So did I."

She smiled. "You ordered from Szechuan Village?'

"Well, you did recommend I try it and there's no time like the present."

She sat down on the sofa and opened up the bag of food. "What are you going to try first?"

"Egg roll."

She smiled. "Good choice."

He was waiting until he didn't hear the shuffling of bags anymore before he took his first bite. He let out a small groan. "Alright, detective. I see your point."

She smiled brightly. "And you didn't even try the shrimp yet."

"Oh, I don't need to. I'm going to ask them for their recipe because if I can't make my egg rolls like these, you won't call me again."

She smirked. "Well, maybe I'd give you one more try before I take my business elsewhere."

They made small talk as they ate their dinner "together. She told him that she grew up in New York, as did he, and told him about her early days of being a cop. He seemed very interested in her professional life and for once, she didn't mind that. She wasn't sure why she felt so comfortable talking to this man about herself, about her job, about her life. She had no idea who this man was, yet she trusted him.

After dinner, she noticed that they had been talking for about two hours now. Time was really flying by and she was pretty sure her phone was going to die on her in a few minutes. She didn't want to be disconnected from him, so she said her goodbyes. "Rick..."

"Yea?"

"Can I call you tomorrow? About the same time?"

He smiled. "Until tomorrow, detective."

"Goodnight."


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: Thank you for all your reviews so far! For those wondering, as you can see I am continuing this. There are two more chapters after this one. I usually don't post this consecutively, but today is my friend's actual birthday! With that, I figured I'd post another chapter sooner rather than later. He has already read the final two chapters and even though I'm my biggest critic, he has assured me that he likes the final two chapters and I hope you all do as well. Thank you again for reading and reviewing. Enjoy!_

It had only been less than a day that he had hung up the phone from talking to her and he couldn't stop thinking about her. When he hung up the phone last night, he opened up that blank document and started writing. He finally had some inspiration, had an idea, and he was confident that this was going to be his next best seller. So far, he just had that she was a female homicide detective. He didn't have a definite name yet, but the last name was going to be Heat. He wasn't sure about her back story, besides the fact that her mother had been killed and she was trying to solve her murder.

He had written the first chapter though and that was progress, since he was in a dry spell. He hadn't gotten much sleep (since he was up late writing and thinking about Kate) and now, well now he was staring at his phone. He didn't know if he should call her. She told him she would call him...but that didn't mean he couldn't call her. He knew that she was probably working, but he still wanted to talk to her. Maybe he could send her a text. He wasn't sure if the number he had was her cell phone or not, but he was going to risk it.

….But what was he going to send. He didn't want to ask her out to lunch, since he was afraid that she would stop talking to him if he made a move. That and he didn't want her boyfriend, if she had one, coming after him. He hoped she didn't have one. He didn't want to send her a "How's work" text either. That was too simple. He finally figured out something that was what he thought was appropriate and sent it, hoping for a response back.

"What's for dinner tonight? Szechuan or Shun Lee?"

He soon got a response back and could imagine her smiling at her desk as she typed it. He had no idea what she looked liked, but he imagined that she had a beautiful smile. "Couldn't wait for me to call you I see. And neither. Mighty Quinn's is on the menu tonight."

"If it wasn't my daughter's birthday and I hadn't promised her to make her favorite, I would join you on that."

"Happy Birthday to her, but that is too bad...considering I'm now going to be taunting you with them."

"You don't play fair, Kate."

"Never said I did."

He was going to respond, but she texted him before he could.

"Got a body. Talk to you after work."

He was tempted to ask if he could have details about it, maybe show up at the crime scene, tell her it was research for his new book...which it was. But mainly he just wanted to see her. He thought about googling her, but he didn't know her last name. It wasn't like she had an uncommon name, so he was pretty sure that there was a good chance she wasn't the only Kate on the NYPD. He could imagine though and god, she was beautiful.

He was knocked out of his thoughts when he heard the knock on his office door. He looked up to see his daughter standing there. "Hey birthday girl!"

"Grams told me you were up late last night. She heard you typing away. Are you writing again?"

"Indeed I am. Last night, I had some inspiration and I just couldn't go to sleep until I wrote the first chapter."

He saw the happiness shine through his daughter's eyes and her whole face lit up when she heard his words. "What's it about?"

"I don't have all the details, but it's based on a female NYPD homicide detective."

"No wonder why you looked so happy when I saw you lost in thought."

He was going to correct her, but his daughter didn't need to know about Kate...not yet anyways. His daughter didn't know about the women in his life, besides her mother and Gina of course, but the women that he had a casual thing with he never told her about or let her meet them. Kate wasn't going to be a casual thing though. He felt that deep down, but first he had to meet her, see if she felt the same way, and get to know her more. He didn't want to tell his daughter about someone that could either have a boyfriend or stop talking to him tomorrow. If things got more serious, then he would tell her.

"I am happy."

It was about 6pm when Beckett got home. She had been tempted to stay at the precinct and try to see if she could find some more information on this new case, but her captain sent her home. She was tempted to draw herself a bath, but she didn't want to be talking on the phone with Rick while she was naked. She just met the guy...well she didn't meet meet him...not yet anyways. She instead just changed into what she had the night before. She had already picked up her ribs and had sat them down on the coffee table.

Since they were ribs, she was going to have to put him on speaker phone in order to talk to him and eat at the same time. She went into her contacts and pressed his number. She was a little nervous that she was calling during his dinner with his daughter, but when he picked up after the first ring that went away.

"How was work detective?"

"It was...well how you would think work would be. In the middle of trying to solve the new case you got this afternoon."

"Maybe I can help."

She laughed, but then she realized he was serious when she didn't hear him laughing. "How can you help?"

"There are two kinds of folks that sit around thinking about how to kill people. Psychopaths and mystery writers. I'm the kind that pays better."

She laughed again. "Even if I did think you could help, which I'm not saying you can't, I can't give you any details about the case."

He sighed. "First the ribs and now this."

She shook her head as she bit her bottom lip. "I never..."

"It's okay because I have been working on a new book and I can't tell you what it's about, so there."

"What are you, five?"

"You wound me, detective. I'm eight."

She laughed. "Well maybe I can pull some strings with my captain and have you shadow me."

She could hear his face light up. "You better not be teasing me, detective."

Kate used her bedroom voice. "Oh trust me, Rick, you'll know when I'm teasing." She heard him choke on whatever he had just taken a sip of and bit her bottom lip to prevent herself from laughing. "You okay there, Rick?"

"I'm fine...great...perfect." She smirked. She really hadn't meant to use that tone of voice on him, but it just slipped out. "Kate, can I ask you something?"

She was a little afraid of what he might ask, but she wasn't going to say no. "Sure."

"You told me that someone close to you was murdered...who was it?"

She bit her bottom lip, not sure if she wanted to let him know or not. She did strangely trust him though. She sighed and cleaned off her hands from the barbecue sauce that was on them before she answered him. "It was my mother. She was found in an alley, stabbed. They just left her there to die. The officer investigating it said it was gang violence, but we all knew it wasn't that. Someone killed my mother and got away with it."

"I'm sorry, Kate. I can't imagine what that must have been like for you."

"I was eighteen and it was a few weeks after Christmas. My dad and I were out for dinner and when we got home, we saw an officer there waiting for us. I still miss her every day, Rick."

"I wish I could give you a hug right now."

She smiled. "Thank you. Her name was Johanna. She was the best mother I could have asked for. Even though I still didn't understand why she liked some of the books she read."

He laughed. "Please don't tell me she was one of those that read the romance books with Fabio on every cover."

"No, thankfully. She liked to read Richard Castle and I still don't know why. They don't seem to be like anything that she would have enjoyed."

He was silent for a minute. "Have you read anything by him?"

"I have. I've met him once. I read them a few months after my mom died and my dad was struggling with her death and becoming an alcoholic. They seemed to be the only thing that took me away from the life I was living for a little while."

"You met him? Where?"

"At a book singing in Manhattan. He probably doesn't remember me and I'm hoping that's the case. I was a mess back then."

"I'm sure you were beautiful."

"We're trying really hard to make sure I ask my captain about you shadowing me, aren't we?"

She heard him laugh. "I guess my secret is out."

"Rick, let me ask you something."

"Shoot, but not literally since I know you own a gun and you know how to use it."

She rolled her eyes. "Your daughter...is her mother..."

"Is she in her life? Sort of. We got divorced when she was young and I took care of Alexis."

"I didn't think you were the Mr. Mom type."

"Well the single dad was a big hit at the playground."

She rolled her eyes again. "Of course."

"I don't know what I did, but I got very lucky when it comes to my daughter. She's brilliant and is more of the parent than I am. If it wasn't for me, she wouldn't know what laser tag was."

"You two play laser tag?"

"Every Friday night. We have our own set."

"Now that is something I'd like to see."

"A fan of laser tag, are we detective?"

"I haven't played since high school."

"Well as long as Alexis says it's okay, maybe one day she'll let you borrow her vest and gun. I only say that cause we're at a tied game and neither of us want to admit defeat."

"Ah, so I have to prove I'm worthy enough?"

"Exactly. Being able to handle your gun is one thing. Being able to handle a laser tag gun is another."

She laughed. "Well, when that time comes I'll make sure to prove myself."

"I look forward to it, detective." She heard another voice on the end. She wasn't sure who it was, but it didn't sound like his daughter. She then heard him say, "Hang on a second, mother." She was relieved that it was his mother and not someone else, since she heard the word 'darling' being used. "Kate, I'll call you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow. Night, Rick."

"Until tomorrow, Kate."


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: Thank you again for the positive reviews. It truly means a lot that you're enjoying this story, which was fun to create for my friend's birthday. I'd like to thank Caskettfan5 for spotting a miss print. I did not realize that I put the wrong age, and even though this is an AU story and a lot of things are different, ages are the same. So thank you for pointing that out. I know a few of you are looking forward to how they meet for the first time, so I hope that you enjoy how I set this up. The next chapter (and final) will most likely be posted this weekend. Enjoy!_

He wasn't sure how to handle the fact that he had met her before. He tried to go back to the times he did a book signing here in New York and no one came to mind. He should have asked her what book it was. At least that would have helped him a bit more to try and remember her. Today though, he was going to meet her...and he never remembered a time where he felt this nervous.

Early this morning, she had called him. She told him that her captain said okay for him coming to shadow her on this case. He just had to come down to the 12th precinct to fill out some paperwork that said he or his family couldn't sue the city if something had happened to him. He trusted Kate though. He knew that she would protect him and he wasn't worried that something would happen. He didn't need to meet her face to face in order to know that. He finally got a last name from her too. Kate Beckett was her name. She told him to ask for Detective Beckett, so he assumed that was her.

He looked into the mirror as he fixed his blue shirt. He wanted to look good for her and he wanted to look professional. She knew what he looked liked, but he wasn't sure if she thought that he was attractive and he wanted to make sure that she thought that...or at least that's what he was hoping that she would think. He also hoped that she wasn't mad at him, that he didn't tell her who he was last night. He didn't have the chance to tell her and he wasn't sure that he wanted to, since he didn't tell her right away.

She was going to find out whether he wanted to or not in just a matter of a half hour. He ran his fingers through his hair as he heard the knock on his door.

"Going on a coffee date?"

"No, daughter of mine, I am going to the twelfth precinct to meet with a homicide detective. I'm going to be shadowing her on a case or two, to get some inspiration for the new series I'm working on."

"How'd you meet her or rather who did you bribe to get that?"

"I didn't have to bribe her or anyone." He fixed his jacket. "She actually called me by accident and we got to talking and she told me that she would see what she could do."

"Do you even know her name?"

"Kate. Her name is Kate." He gave his daughter a smile. "How do I look?"

"I don't really know what to wear when you shadow a detective and meet a total stranger, but I guess you look good."

He gave her a look. "Don't worry. I'll be fine." He refrained from telling his daughter anymore about Kate, since she didn't seem too thrilled about this situation. "I'll be home in a few hours. Don't worry about saving me dinner. I have plans on getting something before I head home." He pressed a kiss to the top of her daughter's head before he headed out of his room and walked towards the front door. He grabbed his wallet and his keys before he headed out of the loft.

He wasn't sure if he should take his own car or not, but in the end he went with taking a cab. It didn't take long to get there, but he was going to tell her that he hit a bit of traffic. Right now, he was just standing outside, trying to calm his nerves. He kept telling himself that he could do this, that everything was going to be okay, that she wasn't going to hate him, and that she was still going to be okay with him shadowing her. He took a deep breath and headed inside.

He asked one of the officers there what floor the homicide floor was on and that he was here to see Detective Beckett. When they told him, he thanked them before walking to the elevator. The doors closed and he felt like his heart was beating out of his chest. He took another deep breath and as he let go, the elevator doors opened. He exited the elevator and headed towards the first officer he saw.

"Excuse me. Can you point me to Detective Beckett?"

Ryan pointed him to the woman that was looking at her phone at her desk. When Castle's eyes landed on her, his rapid heart stopped. She was even more beautiful than he had imagined. He was glad that he went with the blue shirt that he had heard on more than one occasion that it brought out his eyes.

"You must be Rick." He nodded. "Kevin Ryan. Nice to meet you."

They shook hands. "Rick Castle and likewise."

"Oh that's why you look familiar. My girlfriend has a few of your books."

He smiled. "Well tell her I said thank you. If you excuse me, I should go meet Kate."

Ryan gave him a nod before Rick walked away and headed towards Kate. He kept telling himself not to trip as he walked over to her. That would be an embarrassing first meeting that he did not want to happen. He cleared his throat, taking her attention from her phone. "Kate?"

She looked up at him and she could see the shock in her eyes. "Oh god...you're Rick..."

"Castle. Yes. I was..."

She got up out of her seat. "You're the one that I've been talking to?"

"Yes, but..."

"And you didn't bother to mention you were Richard Castle at all during the conversations we've had?"

"I wanted to last night, but..."

"And after I told you about meeting you..."

He started again. "I wanted to tell you last night, but my mother interrupted our conversation and yes, I know that sounds like a high school boy excuse, but you heard her last night. I know I should have called you back, but I didn't know what to say."

"You could have said, "I'm Richard Castle"."

"And what would you have said if I said that?" She crossed her arms and sighed. She wasn't sure what she would have said to him. "You would have hung up wouldn't you?"

She looked away from him, not wanting to tell him that he was right. "I don't know what I would have done."

"I figured it would be best if I told you in person who I was and that I didn't want to just meet you because you were a fan. I wanted to meet you because ever since we started talking, I can't stop thinking about you, I have inspiration to write again..."

"So I'm your muse?"

"Well, in a way, but that's not the point. I wanted to meet the woman that after I hang up the phone I just want to call back and talk to her for a few more hours. And I know you might hate me for not telling you who I was, but I do hope that you still let me shadow you for this case. You don't even have to tolerate me. Just one day is all I ask."

She looked at him and thought about it for a few seconds, which seemed like forever for him. "Fine. Follow me, the paperwork is in the captain's office. He wants to meet you too."

After the paperwork was filled out, Kate looked liked she wanted to shoot him a little less...which was good considering he just signed the papers saying that if he was shot he couldn't sue the NYPD. She still hadn't said a word to him. He wondered what she was thinking. He knew she was still upset that he didn't tell her who he was, but he hoped that she would get passed this. They headed into the elevator and she pressed the button for the main floor. There was an awkward silence between them, but Kate broke it.

"So do you remember me?"

He wasn't sure if either answer would be giving him points here, but he wanted to be honest with her. "I don't. I wish I did because I meant what I said last night, I bet you were beautiful. Did we talk?"

She shook her head. "No. You signed my book, you thanked me, I thanked you. I wasn't sure what to say. The words, "Thanks for helping me get passed my mother's murder" really didn't sound right."

"True, but I would have remembered that." He saw the soft smile that graced her face. "What book was it?"

"Hell Hath No Furry."

"Oh, you're a die hard fan."

She quickly said, "I am not."

He chuckled as he smiled. "Only die hard Richard Castle fans have read that book."

"I am not a die hard fan. I admit to reading your books and being a fan of genre, but that's it." She smirked. "Besides, Patterson has really caught my attention."

The doors of the elevator opened and she walked out first. "You wound me, Beckett, you really do. I'd rather you tell me that you read Nicholas Sparks novels than Patterson." She turned around to give him a quick smirk before she walked out the door. At that moment, he knew that they were okay. They weren't perfect, but she wasn't mad at him anymore. He wasn't sure if she was going to accept his offer to go out to dinner with him tonight, but there was still time before he asked her. He was confident that she would say yes to him and if she didn't, well he was going to come to this precinct every day until she did. He wasn't letting her walk out of his life. No, there was something special about Kate Beckett and he could easily see him falling in love with her. In fact, he already was.


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: Thank you again for the reviews! I hope you all enjoy this final chapter. I have another AU story that I'm working on, that I hope to have finished and posted soon (so stay tuned!) I wanted to post this over the weekend, but sadly the stomach bug had other plans for me. Thank you for all the favorites/reviews/follows. I truly appreciate it :) If you want to know when I publish the next AU story I'm working on, follow me on here or on Twitter. My name is smallville0628. You can also follow my tumblr, Theresajoliepitt. I don't post there as often as I used to though. Thank you again and enjoy! Oh and happy Castle Monday!_

The day had been crazy, but in a good way. He had learned so much and had seen so much. In a matter of hours, he had seen her chase after a suspect, interrogate them, scare them into telling them who the killer was, breaking down the door of the killer's apartment, and seeing her tackle him to the ground as he tried to run for it. So many ideas were running through his head and if it wasn't for the fact that he was more interested in getting to know Kate face to face, he would have gone home to write. He was instead sitting at the side of her desk and just looked at her. He wanted to know everything about this woman, wanted to know what it was like to kiss her. He tried to push that thought out of his mind, but each time his eyes caught her biting her bottom lip his thoughts wandered there.

"Don't you have a book to write?" He blinked as he got out of his thoughts. "Watching me do paperwork. It's creepy."

"I do have a book to write and I have some great ideas from today, thank you for that by the way, but I figured I'd just wait a bit before I head to dinner with a beautiful woman."

She quickly answered him. "You have a date?"

"I do. At least I hope so."

"Are you afraid she'll stand you up?"

"Wouldn't be the first time."

She put her pen down. "Really? Richard Castle gets stood up?"

"On occasion."

"Do you want me to come with you, jut in case?"

"No." He saw the disappointment in her face. "I want you to come with me because I want you to be my date. I want to take you out to dinner."

"Castle, I..."

"Before you say no, it's just dinner. I know what the papers say about me and I have no hidden motive here. I just want to take you out to dinner as a thank you for today and to get to know you face to face."

She was silent for a few seconds before she spoke. "Okay. I'll go out to dinner with you. Let me just finish this paperwork. Where are we going anyways?"

"Well since someone had ribs last night without me, still not over that as you can see, I was thinking that we could either grab the comfort food truck and eat at the park or you could show me that Remy's that you talked about."

He could see the surprise on her face. "I would think Richard Castle would want to go somewhere fancier than a diner like restaurant or a food truck."

"I told you, the comfort food truck is one of my favorites. Just because I write mystery novels and they're published, doesn't mean I need to dine at five star restaurants...unless that's what you want. I'll see what reservations I can get."

"No, food truck and dinner in the park is perfect." She gave him a soft smile before she returned her attention back to the paperwork.

When she was finished, she grabbed her jacket and headed towards the elevator with Castle. "So, Castle, what's your poison from the comfort food truck?"

"Mac and cheese."

Kate closed her eyes and nodded as a small smile graced her face. "Their mac and cheese is good. I usually get their grilled cheese and their fries."

"Curly fries or..."

She looked at him and smiled. "Definitely curly fries."

He smiled back at her and for a moment, he could have sworn she moved closer to him, but then the elevator doors opened. She pushed a strand of her hair back before she exited the elevator. He followed and headed out of the precinct with her.

He got mac and cheese, she got her grilled cheese and fries. She got an extra order so that they could share, which brought a smile to his face. It was a little chilly, but it wasn't that bad where they were freezing outside on the bench they found in Central Park.

"I would have brought a blanket if I knew you would have said yes to dinner in the park."

"Guess you should have been more optimistic," she smirked before she popped a curly fry into her mouth.

"I was more worried about the fact that you would kick me out of the precinct once you saw who I was, which I know you were tempted to do. Don't try and deny it, detective."

"Oh I wasn't going to, Castle. However, I'm glad I didn't kick you out." He smiled. "Because then I wouldn't have had a free dinner."

His smile vanished. "That really hurt, detective." She smiled before she took a bite of her grilled cheese. "If it's an consolation, I'm glad you didn't kick me out either. Besides getting some inspiration for my next book, it was nice to finally put a face to the voice that I can't stop thinking about."

She looked at him. Normally, that would scare her, but for some reason it didn't. It was just like when she was talking on the phone with him and telling him about her mother's murder. She trusted him and that was a bit scary to her. Not scary enough for her to run though...which was different. "You can't stop thinking about me?"

She saw the look on his face, seeing that he didn't realize that he said those words. "Well you are the inspiration behind my new book."

"Nice save," she smirked as she saw him running his hand through his hair. She bit her bottom lip, debating on what to say. "The best part of coming home these past few days has been talking to you."

He gave her a bright smile. "I could tell when I walked in this morning and saw you just staring at your phone waiting for me to either call or text you."

She opened her mouth to speak, but the smirk now on his face stopped her for a few seconds. "I was just hoping that you would tell me that you were here so I would know you got here safely."

"Caring for my well being. I knew you liked me."

She gave him a look. "Don't get ahead of yourself." There was a bit of silence as they finished their meal, but Kate was the first one to break it. "You know, Castle, you're not so bad."

He chuckled. "Thanks Beckett."

"I didn't mean it like that. I wasn't so sure what to expect when I saw it was you standing at my desk...but you're nothing like what is printed in the papers."

"Don't believe everything you read, detective." He paused for a moment. "You're not so bad yourself." She smiled and playfully bumped his shoulders with hers. There was another silence between them, but this time he broke it. "I hope I'm not keeping you from something...or someone."

She looked at him. "Subtle way of asking if I have a boyfriend?"

"I wasn't asking, I was just..."

"You're not keeping me from anything or anyone."

"So you're..."

"Yes. And you're..."

"Yes."

"Good."

"Good?"

"Yea, good cause I'm not keeping you..." He cut her off as he leaned in to capture her lips in a soft kiss. When he moved his lips from his, she opened her eyes and looked at him with a look that he couldn't read.

"I'm sorry...I..." This time, it was her that cut him off and captured his lips in a passionate kiss. She broke the kiss though before her tongue had the chance to part his lips. She was about to speak, but he cut her off again. "I've been thinking of what's it like to feel your lips against mine all day," he said before he leaned in and kissed her again. He knew she might pull away, but he was going to risk it. He parted her lips with his tongue and he felt a moan escape her as he let his tongue tangle with hers. He would have sighed in relief, but he was a little busy at the moment. He angled his head to deepen their kiss when he felt her arms wrap around his neck more and only broke their kiss when the need to breathe became too much. He rested her forehead against hers as he tried to catch his breath.

"Are you still sticking with, "This is just a thank you dinner"?"

He smiled. "I should know never to lie to a detective."

She smiled before she leaned in a for another soft kiss. "As much as I enjoyed dinner and how much I'm enjoying this, I think it's about time I head home."

"Of course. Do you live far from here or should we take a cab? Even though you have shown me today that you're fully capable of taking care of yourself, I want to make sure you get home okay."

"Such a gentlemen."

"More like I don't want to deal with the guilt if something did happen," he teased.

She rolled her eyes as she got up from the bench. "We can walk, since it's still nice out."

As they walked to her apartment, they talked, they laughed, as he had his arm wrapped around her. He claimed it was to keep her warm, but she knew he just wanted her close to him. This was definitely surprising her. She hadn't felt so comfortable with someone since her mother died. Not even with Will or Demming. She felt like she had known Castle for years, that he knew everything about her. She wasn't sure if she felt so comfortable with him because he was the writer that helped her through her mother's death or if it was something else. She would be normally questioning this, running away from this, but she wasn't.

He walked her to her door and kissed her goodnight. He didn't leave until she was in her apartment and heard her lock the door behind her. Before he could even get to the elevator, he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He figured it was Alexis, but he was surprised to see that it was Kate.

"Missing me already, detective?"

"Are you coming to the precinct tomorrow?"

"I...um...I could. There's no such thing as too much research...especially when that research is with a very attractive detective."

"I knew there was a reason you wanted to go with Ryan to examine the surveillance tape," she teased.

He shook his head. "Until tomorrow."

"Until tomorrow." She hung up the phone and placed it down on the table. She realized that things might have been going fast, from just talking on the phone a few days ago and meeting for the first time today, but for once she wasn't thinking with her head. She was thinking with her heart, something her mother told her when she was young and told her the story of how her and her dad met. Her mother had told her that she wished that she had gone with her heart instead of her head. If she did, she wouldn't have wasted as much time. Kate didn't want to waste anytime when it felt like she had known Castle her whole life. She had wasted too much time in the past. She knew if her mom were alive, she would be telling her the same thing and not just because it was Richard Castle.

She knew that they still had time to get to know each other better and that there would be no jumping on the next plane to Vegas and getting married. Their lives were just getting started and she was looking forward to seeing what life may bring their way.


End file.
